Fifth on the grid, Lorenzo shot away so early that he had time to pause, then - with the damage already done - cut his loses and re-accelerate away before the red lights went out.

"I wasn't thinking and was distracted and I made a big mistake in the start," said the Movistar Yamaha rider.

“When I arrived for the start I had a lot of mosquitoes on my helmet so I took a tear off, which I never do and for sure this distracted my focus a little.

“Also the lights went on to red very late, more late than normal. Usually they are red before we arrive on the grid. I don't know why, when I saw the red lights turn on, like a bull, I started to go!

“I made the best start of my life! But it was illegal so I had to enter the pits and pay the penalty. I didn't wait for the message. I came straight in.

"I just tried to push at the maximum afterwards and stay calm to get the best result but the race was almost over for me.

"I want to say sorry to the team as I destroyed my race, but at least I didn't crash because it was a difficult situation with the tension and it was easy to make a mistake and get injured."

After serving the inevitable ride-through penalty at the end of the opening lap, the double world champion rode from last to tenth place - his first points of the season after falling from the lead on lap one in Qatar.

"The good thing is that I finished the race and got my first points in the championship but clearly it wasn't our weekend," said Lorenzo, who had again clawed his way up the order after a slow start in Friday practice, despite his favoured 2013 medium rear tyre being used at Austin.

Team manager Massimo Meregalli put the jump start down as a freak incident: "As for Jorge, no matter how hard you prepare for a race weekend there are some things that cannot be anticipated. We all know he is one of the hardest working riders here and very rarely makes a mistake. He did a good job to make the best of it afterwards."

Compounding Lorenzo's misery was another victory for Marc Marquez, which has put the reigning champion 44 points clear of Lorenzo after just two races. Prior to Qatar, Lorenzo hadn't made a notable race mistake since Valencia 2012.

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